Same Fate
by essayssuc
Summary: Beneath the blaring injustice, my heart stuttered in grief as we fled the compound watching as it burned like a torch in the night, illuminating the forests. Bloody flames licked the dry autumn foliage, a blazing flame passed from branch to branch, tree to tree. The place of my childhood, of dreams and delusions. An all consuming fire, from house to house, from person to person.
1. Meetings and Discoveries

A ghostly silence suffocated the room as the figures shuffled in, their steps soundless, their breathing mute.

Shinobi.

I shrunk back fearful as the towering shadows flickered past, their restless stares raking the room, features set in a hard scowl. Sometimes their eyes, would flash a menacing red like a drop of blood in the sea of darkness.

Of the last to enter, a tall man, his features dark, his face set in an icy stillness, my father. He cast his eyes on me for a second, cold and empty, before his brow twisted into a slight frown. The second was drawn out, into minutes and days, what seemed like years of torturous suspense, before he turned, disappearing into the small room.

The cold air struck me in the face as I remembered how to breathe.

The last to enter was a young girl, not quite yet a woman, in whose weary amber eyes I sought security and comfort. Onee sama. My sister. She moved silently like the rest of them, each step calculated, each breath timed. A beauty and a wisdom far beyond her years and a burden that seemed to drain her day by day. She did not meet my eyes.

The door shut with a eerie creak, sawing through the morbid silence.

I stood for a moment in the darkness, staring blankly at the closed door, contemplating the unspoken secrets shut away, and with them, my beloved sister.

The time we spent together was growing more and more scarce, a thick wall of duty and conspiracy stretching the distance between us. But I dared not ask. Authority was never questioned and her missions were always confidential. Often she would disappear in the night, gone without a trace, only to return days later, her eyes dull and weary. No one ever asks. Authority was never questioned. The only thing that followed her was the mask, a noble fox, features lined with scarlet paint, blood red tendrils winding around each other, encasing and binding. A badge of honor that she wore each day, a glorified curse dragging her down to hell.

It was killing her day by day.

The afternoon light cast shadows across the bare walls, flickering and fading, like spirits singing of the judgement day. Something was going to happen.

The third bedroom on the right in the narrow hallway of the second floor. A stark white door revealing nothing of the person who lived inside.

My dear sister'sroom.

For a second, a deep curiosity gripped me and before I understood what I was doing, the door opened with a frightening creak, as if to forewarn me of the dangers from which I was being protected. I took a step back in guilt, unprepared for the scene that lay before me. Paperwork and mission reports, littered the room, some scattered across the floor, while others, hung stiffly from the war, pinned by kunai knives. Shards of broken glass and porcelain shone, reflecting the afternoon sunlight that leaked through the half drawn curtains, each dangerously sharp and threatening.

In a dumbfounded stupor my body moved, navigating the minefield, searching instinctively for an explanation. A familiar mask. A fox shaped design streaked artistically crimson, I had seen it many times before in the past. A frown fell over my features as my eyes traced the cracks spider webbing through the mask, the same deep ridges crawling up the cracked wall. She had thrown it. _Hard_.

The crisp click of a lock indicated the meeting was over, waking me from my trance like state as I came to my senses abruptly.

We never ask.

Authority is never questioned.

I turned the corner frantically, my heart pounding in my head, forgetting the staircase in my panic. Before I realised what was happening, I was already tipping forward, the ground drawing closer with promises of hostility and pain. But the impact never came. Opening my eyes, I look up, only to find myself encased in the warmth and security of onee sama's arms. The room was still deathly silent, despite the masses beginning to file out the meeting room. The sound of my stuttered breathing filled the stale air, dozens of eyes turning in curiosity and scorn. I pushed my head into her embrace, a dark flush climbing up my neck as I hid myself in shame. I could already sense father's irritated glare.

As if sensing my discomfort she stood, adjusting me in her arms, unfazed by the weight and began to ascend the staircase with silent grace. A collective of low hisses made me jump with a start as onee sama paused slightly, turning her head. I snuck a glance over her shoulder to see a youth, onyx eyes and raven hair, following us up the stairs. Behind him, the burning glares of disapproval of his clansmen.

"Itachi."

Her gaze softened as she acknowledged him, weary gratitude glazing her tone, too expressive in the tense silence. He met her eyes with equal heaviness, ignoring the hostility gathering at the base of the staircase.

I watched her features carefully as we passed her room, door ajar, searching her clouded eyes for a reaction. Something akin to realisation seemed to pass her features, resignation seeped in grief, but she did not utter a word.

As we reached my room, the adrenaline and fear subsided, a dull stinging taking its place, blooming at the base of my right foot. I grimaced as she set me on the bed, the boy closing the door soundlessly behind her. I watched, my stomach twisting with guilt as onee sama knelt before me, her palm flickering a pale green, a brow knotted as if in some deep contemplation. I winced slightly at the intrusive energy, but relaxed as a familiar warmth and security washed over me. Everything was going to be okay. As if coming to some sort of conclusion, she looked up as she worked, meeting my eyes with a clouded gaze. A gaze of great tenderness, tainted by deep sorrow. Clouded grey eyes, looking piercingly at me, yet fixed on some far away distance.

"Shikon, you have to learn to take care of yourself."

I blinked at her words, world weary, yet steeled with a determination I did not understand. Soft, yet not at all comforting.

"I can't take care of you forever."

Something was wrong.

From behind her, the boy from before reached forward and with momentary hesitation, placed his hand on her shoulder. In the short span of time her gaze was torn away from my confounded form, as if some sort of message had been silently exchanged she stood abruptly, without another word or look, left me dumbstruck in my room.

I stared at the empty doorway as the boy began to follow her. Before he left, he turned toward me, his lips parting to form simple words with a heart wrenching sincerity.

 _"I'm sorry."_

and it was almost as if onee sama herself were saying those words.

I sat alone in the room, a tingling warmth at the base of my sole and a growing hollowness spreading in my chest.

Something was going to happen.


	2. Happenings in the Night

I woke some time during the night, to the familiar darkness and eerie silence. Finding myself unable to fall asleep, I wandered downstairs, my eyes lingering curiously on the onee sama's closed door. Surely, now it was locked. I paused as I walked past a dimly lit room. The door wasn't completely closed, letting through a thin ray of flickering lamplight. On impulse I peered in.

Three pair of glowing eyes, predatory –trained soldiers and easily, cold blooded murders. The startled screech caught in my throat, a dry whimper falling upon deaf ears. Until at long last, the recognition came and with it, a vague relief, as I stood frozen in the doorway. Mother, father and onee sama.

They sat, three marble statues, each with calculating gaze, seemingly come to some surreal stalemate. Father was looking at onee sama again, new superiority glinting in his glassy eyes.

"You are bound by the blood in your veins to me, Genkai Asuno, to this clan." His voice was low but harsh, tinged with an edge of premature victory.

Across from him, onee sama didn't move, her mouth pressed into a thin line.

"You work for us."

When she didn't respond, father continued.

"You _will_ have the documents by tomorrow." It was not a question.

The muscles of onee sama's jaw tensed and her lips parted, ready to form words. But father did not let her. His voice was like liquid poison, as smooth as it was fatal.

"I don't care what you have to do. The Uchihas are disposable."

There was a silence, which in itself was a challenge to father's authority and that moment. He turned and looked _straight at me._

Then everything froze. I wasn't in the hallway anymore. The world before washed red, filling instantly by an unnatural buzz. I couldn't breathe, and in that moment, I was sure I was going die.

The metallic clang of steel cut through the silence. The sudden oxygen was nauseating and bland as the crimson faded away to expose the dim lit room. Onee sama was standing now, amber eyes boiling with contained rage. Mother was holding a kunai, a second was lodged behind father in the wall.

"Asuno!" mother's familiar voice filled the room, a blatant warning and a silent plea. Father made no move, his eyes no longer fixed on me.

For a second, something akin to hatred flashed across onee sama's features, the corners of her mouth pulling minutely into an ugly scowl. I almost believed she was going to attack, but then she shifted back, her expression blank.

"You win. I know where my loyalties lie." She reached the door with two swift steps. Her strong arms wrapping around my petrified form.

"I will have the documents by tomorrow," and without looking back, she left the room.

Behind the nauseating haze, I caught one final glimpse of the spinning room before I blacked out. A truly haunting image.

Father had smiled.

When I woke again, I did not understand the cold sheen of sweat that coated my forehead. Perhaps I had been having a nightmare. Either way, I simply did not remember. The familiar darkness of the room and the eerie silence was oddly comforting and the hollow emptiness of my room strangely secure.

The stark moonlight shone through the windows, stripping the untouched furniture of their usual grey hue. Through the open door of my bedroom, I seemed to have a vision in the night.

I saw onee sama, standing by the large window, a tall figure before her, their face, I could not see. Onee sama seemed to be trembling, but when she spoke, I heard her voice clearly.

"Shisui is dead?"

There was a pause, before an familiar adolescent voice answered her.

"Yes."

At first, it was quiet and a foreign tranquillity seemed to cleanse the air, it was broken by a soft chuckling. A soft chuckling that turned into a strangled sobbing. I watched as the figure bent down, sweeping onee sama into his arms. Just before it seemed as though he were going to leave, he stopped, a familiar red gaze glowing beneath the moon and looked at me. Then, he turned and disappeared into the night with my sister.


End file.
